1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to snow plows. More particularly, the invention relates to a hinged snow plow for use on off-road vehicles. The snow plow is designed so that an adapter bracket is easily mounted to a tubular frame which is made in many variations so that the snow plow of the present invention can be mounted to practically any off-road vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hinged snow plows have been known in the art for many years in relationship to the mounting of various types of snow plows on pickup trucks for use on commercial settings. One such snow plow that is known is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,519, issued on Apr. 21, 1987, to Phillip J. Quenzi. This patent discloses a hinged snow plow wherein a cowling is pivotally secured to the free end of a support frame which attaches to a vehicle in a manner such that the cowling pivots in a generally vertical plane about the free end of the frame. The blades of the snow plow are hinged to the cowling. However, this snow plow has a first and second stop means which are undesirable for use in off-road vehicles. Off-road vehicles generally lack adequate traction and are underpowered for moving and clearing areas of snow on a commercial basis or for expanded personal use. The provision of the stop means on the Quenzi snow plow under certain conditions requires additional power which the off-road vehicle simply does not have. Also, the hydraulic adjustment means are impractical for use on off-road vehicles since a source of hydraulic power is just not available. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,275, issued on Mar. 7, 1967 to E. A. Simi, and the U.S. Pat. No. 3,706,144, issued Dec. 19, 1972 to Miceli, also suffer from one or more of these problems. Thus, those skilled in the snow plow art have continued to search for solutions to these problems.
To solve the problems in the prior art, a hinged snow plow is provided wherein a cowling is pivotally secured to the free end of an adapter. The adapter, which may be of a multi-piece construction, attaches to a tubular mounting means of a universal nature which is modified in a manner depending upon the vehicle the off-road snow plow is to be mounted to. The combination of the adapter and the tubular frame make the snow plow of the present invention mountable to almost any off-road vehicle. The cowling is mounted to a pivot means which allows it to pivot in a generally vertical plane about the adapter and is free to rotate virtually 360 degrees about said vertical plane to prevent any artificial stop means from acting during the operation of the snow plow. The blades of the hinged snow plow are hinged to the cowling, and a manual adjustment means is provided for positioning the blades so that a hydraulic source of power is not needed on the off-road vehicle.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved hinged snow plow usable on an off-road vehicle.
A further object of the present invention is to be provide a hinged off-road vehicle snow plow without artificial stop means to limit the tilting of the blades.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a hinged snow plow for use on off-road vehicles having a manual adjustment means.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a hinged off-road vehicle snow plow which does not require a source of hydraulic power for adjustment.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an off-road vehicle snow plow which is easily mountable to a wide variety of off-road vehicles.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and depended claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the Specification, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.